The stewards have announced that the Manor F1 team will not incur any penalty for not participating in the Australian Grand Prix.
The stewards were convened to determine whether Manor were in breach of Article 13.2(f) of the Formula One Sporting Regulations.
The team sat out all practice sessions and the qualifying session of the Australian Grand Prix due to missing control software that was supposed to be installed on the cars. The team had prepared both cars for the race but the cars could not turn a wheel because of the control software that was not installed.
The bosses at Manor submitted a written explanation to the stewards detailing why they could not participate this weekend. The FIA had also received information from the FIA Technical Delegates.
The Stewards decision is included below:
Having considered all available material, the Stewards determined that there had not been a breach of Article 13.2(f), on the basis the team had:
- Attended the event
- Brought a significant quantity of material and equipment with it
- Produced all required documents for checking
- Taken part in scrutineering and its 2 cars were eligible to compete
- Brought sufficient staff to prepare the cars for competition
- Continued to work and do all within its ability to enable the 2 cars to compete
- Prepared the cars to a state where they were mechanically complete
- Would not have been able to achieve a software configuration that allowed the 2 cars to be operated in Practice and Qualifying sessions, even if they had worked outside curfew requirements.
Therefore the stewards accepted that the team explained it has used all reasonable endeavors to ensure that its cars were able to compete in active competition, therefore the stewards take no further action during the event.
